Skimmer with elastic size adapter



Jan. 6, 1970 R. LEWTAN 3,487,472

SKIMMER WITH ELASTIC SIZE ADAPTER Filed April 30, 1968 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,487,472 SKIMMER WITH ELASTIC SIZE ADAPTER Robert Lewtan, 11 Arlen Way, West Hartford, Conn. 06117 Filed Apr. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 725,329 Int. Cl. A42b 1/22 U.S. Cl. 2183 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In the present invention a skimmer-type hat is provided with an elastic adjuster so that the hat is suitable for a variety of head sizes and is nestable for shipment. The elastic adapter is retained in postion either by pins which pass through the body of the skimmer or by being secured in retaining grooves provided in the underside of the rim.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to skimmer hats. More particularly, this invention relates to skimmer hats of the novelty type which can be stacked in a nesting arrangement for shipment and in which an elastic adapter feature is provided so that the skimmer can be worn by people of different head sizes.

Description of the prior art Novelty skimmers suggestive of the well-known, old fashioned, wide brimmed, flat top straw hat have been popular for many years, especially for uses in advertising, such as political and other conventions, parades, masquerade parties, etc. Such novelty hats have become even more popular in recent years with the advent of moldable foam materials from which the skimmers can be easily and relatively inexpensively formed. However, twopersistent problems have remained, namely, the problem that the hats are bulky to ship and the problem that it is economically impracticable to make the hats in a large variety of sizes to accommodate different head sizes. Both of these problems are clearly related to the marketing economics of these novelty hats, and elimination of these problems provides substantial new advantages in the marketing of these desirable novelties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, the problem of shipping volume is cut in half by the feature of employing hats of two slightly different sizes, one of which is nestable within the other. In this way, two hats can be shipped in approximately the same space previously required for just one hat, and yet both hats are still of substantially the same size and are both fully suitable for their intended use. Furthermore, an elastic adapter is provided in the interior head cavity of each hat to serve a dual purpose. The primary function of the elastic adapter is to enable each hat to be suitably worn by its recipient regardless of the recipients head size. The secondary function of the elastic adapter is to serve to exert a retaining force or pressure to keep the hats in nested relationship during shipping.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved skimmer of the novelty type.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved skimmer hat of the novelty type which is economical to ship.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro- 3,487,472 Patented Jan. 6, 1970 vide a skimmer hat of the novelty type which is nestable for shipping.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novelty hat of the skimmer type which can be worn by people of different head sizes.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novelty hat of the skimmer type which has an elastic adapter suitable for different head sizes.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description and drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a skimmer hat.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view of a skimmer hat showing an elastic adapter, the brim of the hat being partly broken away to illustrate the mode of attachment of the elastic adapter.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view showing a pair of skimmer hats nested in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing an alternative elastic adapter arrangement.

FIGURE 5 is a view taken along line 55 of FIG- URE 4 showing a detail of the elastic anchoring arrangement of the FIGURE 4 structure.

FIGURES 6 and 7 show possible alternative arrangements for positioning of the elastic adapter.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGURE 1, a typical skimmer hat 10 of well-known shape is shown, the hat having a wide brim 12, a riser portion 14, and a flat crown 16. The standard commercial apparel version of the skimmer is made of straw or similar material and constitutes the well-known straw hat. The version of the skimmer with which the present invention is concerned is a novelty hat molded from a plastic foam material such as, for example, polyurethane foam, to simulate the standard commercial version.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, the hat is seen viewed from the bottom looking at the bottom of brim 12 and into the head receiving cavity defined by interior wall 18. Merely for purposes of illustration, an outline 20 representing a wearers head is shown in broken line. An elastic adjuster 22 spans the head cavity. The normal or unextended position of elastic adjuster 22 when the hat is not being worn or stacked for shipment is as shown in the dotted position 22. When the hat is being worn, the elastic adjuster 22 is stretched into bearing contact with the head of the wearer as shown in the full line position of adjuster 22, so that the skimmer is firmly, but comfortably, mounted on the head of the wearer in the manner similar to a proper fitting hat even though the skimmer may actually be larger than the normal hat size of the wearer. Elastic adjuster 22 is secured to the riser portion 14 by pins 24. Each end of the elastic adapter passes through an opening in the riser wall and is secured to a pin 24, the pin 24 in turn bearing against the outer surface of the riser. The pin structure on one side of the hat is shown in the portion broken away in FIGURE 2, but it will be understood that the structure is duplicated at the other end of the elastic adapter 22 so that the elastic adapter is secured at both ends by pins 24. The connection between the pins and the elastic adapter can be crimping, slot engagement or any other convenient arrangement. The pins 24 are covered by a headband 26 (see FIG- URE 3) so that the pins are not visible when the hat is being worn. In FIGURE 3, the band around the riser of hat 10 is also shown partly broken away to 3 illustrate the relative position of a pin 24 on one side of the hat.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, a pair of hats and 10' are shown in a nesting arrangement for shipping, with part of hat 10 being'shown broken away and in section for purposes of illustration. The dimensions of hat 10' are slightly smaller than those of hat 10 so that hat 10' nests snugly within the head receiving cavity of hat 10. However, the overall dimensioning of hat 10' still approximates that of hat 10 so that hat 10' can still serve exactly the same function as hat 10 when in use. As can also be seen in FIGURE 3, elastic adapted 22 of hat 10 is stretched into bearing engagement with the riser portion of hat 10' when the hats are nested so that adapter 22 also serves to retain the hats in nesting engagement as well as serving as an adjuster as previously described.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, an alternative arrangement is shown for an elastic adjuster. In the FIGURE 4 embodiment, elastic adjuster 22 is a continuous band which is secured at four points to the interior wall defining the head cavity by engagement with four slots or retaining grooves 28 formed in the bottom of the brim 12 and interior wall 18 of the head cavity in the vicinity of the juncture of the brim and riser. A detail of one of the slots 28 with the elastic adjuster 22 retained therein is shown in FIGURE 5. As can be seen, the slot 28 extends from the bottom side of brim 12 upwardly into the interior wall 18 which defines the interior head cavity.

FIGURES 6 and 7 show two possible alternative arrangements for location of the elastic adjuster when the skimmer is provided with the slots 28 as discussed above. As shown in FIGURE 6, a pair of elastic adjusters 22 can be positioned to extend along the side of the hat, each being secured in a pair of slots on its side of the hat. As shown in FIGURE 7, an adjuster could be positioned to extend across the front of the hat with its ends secured in two of the slots 28. Similarly, an adjuster could be positioned at the back of the hat extending between two slots 28 to the position of the adjuster in FIGURE 2, or a pair of adjusters could be provided with one extending across the front and another extending across the back. In either the FIGURE 6 or 7 embodiment or other similar arrangement the adjusters can be continuous bands, such as elastic bands mounted in and extending between the slots 28, or the adjusters could be single elastic strands with end structure such as a knot or other similar enlargement to retain the adjusters in the slots 28.

As an additional feature, air vents 30 such as shown in FIGURE 1 are provided to allow air circulation which would otherwise be unavailable because of the solid molded nature of the hat.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that this invention has been described by way of illustration rather than limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a skimmer-type hat formed from a plastic foa material and having a brim portion, a riser portion, and a crown portion, the improvement comprising:

elastic adjuster means extending between parts of the interior wall of said riser portion to bridge the head receiving cavity of said hat, said adjusted means extending at least partly through said riser portion; and

securing means for releasably engaging said adjuster means at a plurality of points disposed outwardly from the interior wall of said riser portion to retain said adjuster means in position;

said brim portion and the interior wall of said riser portion being proportioned to receive the riser and crown of a second similarly shaped hat in a nesting array, said elastic adjustment means bearing against the exterior of the riser of said second hat to retain said second hat in a nested array.

2. A hat as in claim 1 wherein said securing means includes:

a plurality of holes extending through said riser portion adjacent to and above the junction of said riser and brim portions; and

pins at the exterior surface of said riser portion adjacent each of said holes, sections of said adjuster means extending through said holes in said riser portion and being engaged by said pins.

3. A hat as in claim 1 wherein said securing means includes:

a plurality of retaining grooves formed in said riser portion substantially at the junction of said brim and riser portions, said grooves communicating with the head receiving cavity of said hat, sections of said adjuster means being retained in said grooves.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 924,303 12/1909 Baker 2-197 XR 2,383,396 8/ 1945 Lipton. 2,451,140 10/ 1948 Wittcoif 2183 XR 2,969,546 1/1961 Morgan 23 3,305,874 2/ 1967 Peham 2183 3,321,775 5/1967 Berlin 2--183 FOREIGN PATENTS 26,816 12/1908 Great Britain. 226,469 12/ 1924 Great Britain.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner KR ZMANICH, Assistant Examin r 

